The invention relates to the field of suction cups and more particularly to suction cup release means.
Suction cups are common devices that are useful for temporarily attaching an item, for example a sun shield, to a smooth surface, for example a car window. Suction cups are generally made of impervious, soft, resilient material in the shape of a hollow partial sphere, having a rim that is in a plane. When the suction cup that is attached to a sun shield is pressed against the car window or other smooth surface, the air within the partial sphere is expelled and the ambient atmospheric pressure holds the suction cup to the surface. To remove the suction cup, one lifts an edge of its rim to allow the pressure to equalize within the suction cup and release the attachment suction.
When a sun shield or other planar item has a different design or message on its two major surfaces, for example one surface being decorated with a design and the other surface having a distress message (e.g., xe2x80x9cHELPxe2x80x9d), a double-sided suction cup is used for permitting the sun shield to be mounted with either of its major surfaces exposed. Such a two-sided sun shield and double sided suction cup combination is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,553,908 to Shink entitled xe2x80x9cSun Shield Assemblyxe2x80x9d, although mounting the sun shield with either side facing outwardly is not disclosed therein.
In order for one to lift the rim of a suction cup mounting a panel to a surface, one must be able to reach a finger or a tool around the edge of the panel and contact the rim of the suction cup. If the suction cup is in a location that is difficult to access in this manner, releasing the suction cup involves applying sufficient force to overcome, or break, the suction. This release factor is true whether the suction cup is single sided or double sided.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a suction cup that can be easily released from a smooth surface to which it is attached.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a suction cup that can be easily released from a smooth surface to which it is attached regardless of the accessibility of the rim of the suction cup.
It is an additional object of the present invention to provide a double-sided suction cup that can be easily released from a smooth surface to which it is attached regardless of the accessibility of the rim of the suction cup.
These and other objects of the present invention will become apparent through the disclosure of the invention to follow.
The invention provides a suction cup having a tab that extends outwardly from the rim of the cup with a release filament connected to the tab. The suction cup is assembled to a panel, such as a sun screen, by passing a connector extending axially from the rear portion of the suction cup through an opening in the panel that the suction cup is intended to support. The release filament is threaded through a second opening in the panel to extend on the opposite side of the item from the suction cup rim to which the filament is connected. When one desires to release the suction cup from its suction attachment to a smooth attachment surface, one pulls on the extended end of the release filament to lift the tab and part of the rim of the suction cup, thus releasing the suction force. In alternate embodiments, the suction cup is single sided or double sided, each side having a tab and a release filament.